Friday, December 18, 2009

Victory over Taliban by 2011 possible: Afghan diplomat

OTTAWA, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) -- It is "very realistic" to expect a military victory over the Taliban by 2011 when the United States troops pull out of Afghanistan, Afghanistan's ambassador to Canada said Thursday.

But that will depend on how much resources to be put in training the Afghan national forces and preparing the Afghan institutions, Jawed Ludin, the Afghan ambassador, told reporters.

"It is very realistic if our eagerness, if our keen interest as Afghans is anything to go by, then it's very achievable ... The question obviously is whether the international community will be able to put in the amount of resources that are needed to prepare our institutions, the national army and the national police," he said.

He warned that the Afghan security forces will not be ready to stand on their own by 2011 if they progress at the current speed. But he said things are getting better and the Afghans are getting the support they need.

On Wednesday, Ludin spoke to U.S. General Stanley McChrystal, the head of the American war effort in Afghanistan, who was in Ottawa to speak to the Conference of Defense Associations.

McChrystal said by the summer of 2011, NATO will be able to demonstrate to the Afghan people that the Taliban "will not win."

Earlier this year the United States announced that it will increase troops to Afghanistan and a plan to begin withdrawing troops from Afghanistan in 2011.